In order to re-focus, he only had to remind himself that he would have given up the struggle to earn a world heavyweight title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers next year had he not been able to shed the surplus flab from his massive, 6ft 9in frame.

‘I looked in the mirror one day and was disgusted by what I saw,’ says Fury.

‘I didn’t resemble anything like the athlete I was supposed to be. It no longer mattered to me that I could win fights even when so out of condition.

‘I couldn’t stand looking fat as a pig whenever I stripped down to train or spar. I gave it one last chance to prove to myself that I could become dedicated to boxing and present myself as an athlete in the ring. If I’d failed to do so I was going to quit out of embarrassment.’

In a few short months Fury has banished the layers of fat around his belly and waist and, remarkably, reduced his body fat to less than 10 per cent.That has required a supreme effort of will, to abide by the strict diet imposed by his new trainer.

Peter Fury. his uncle and former boxer, has isolated his nephew at his wooden house buried deep in a forest on the Holland-Belgium border.

Weight off his shoulders: Fury has shed the pounds

‘My problem was not even junk food,’ says Tyson. ‘I love sweets and even when driving I couldn’t resist pulling into a petrol station, loading up with carrier bags full of chocolates and candies and eating most of it at one go.

‘It was madness. I couldn’t stop even though I felt sluggish and terrible. It was more compulsive because my baby son had been really sick in hospital. Thank God, his recovery helped me turn the corner. I feel so much better now, Stronger even tough I’m lighter and punching with greater power.’

Mick Hennessy, Fury’s promoter, is as delighted as he is amazed by the change in life-style of his 24-year-old giant prodigy.

He says: ‘I’ve always believed Tyson will become a world champion but I thought it would have to be as one of those tubby heavyweights relying on his knock-out power.

'Now he looks like the Klitschkos, his movement is so much improved and I’m even more confident he can beat Wladimir or Vitali in the fight we are negotiating for 2013.’

Fury has been criticised for vacating the British and Commonwealth titles rather than face the mandatory challenge from Liverpool’s David Price, now the new champion.

But he denies that worries about his fitness prompted that decision, saying: ‘I just felt Price wasn’t ready for me since has faced nothing like the quality of opposition I have been in against. A five-fight blitz starting with Maddalone gives me a better chance of building up to challenge one of the Klitschkos.’

Fury found deeper religion as he overcame the depression triggered by his son’s illness and he prays daily.

Looking ahead: Fury wants to fight one of the Klitschko brothers in 2013

He has also integrated even more fully into the family life which is fundamental to the travelling community into which he was born.

At his uncle’s remote chalet, with many relatives around him, he has been living the open-air country life in which he feels most comfortable. His wife Paris and their two children spend their time in those woods sleeping in the caravan which Fury towed over from their home in Lancaster.

He returned from that idyll on Friday in readiness for Saturday’s engagement with Maddalone, the New York slugger, and even that fight is taking place in a rural setting in which he will feel at ease.

The Hand Arena, in the Somerset resort of Clevedon, is an equestrian centre which is being transformed into a 2,500 seat boxing venue for the evening. Fury may even make his entrance on horse-back or in a horse-drawn caravan.

This should be a routine win for Fury, given his own physical improvement and the limitations of his opponent.

Fury-Maddalone is live on Channel 5 from 10 pm Saturday.

Brook out to punish rival Jones

Sheffield's Kell Brook faces a somewhat higher test of his future world championship credentials when he meets American Carson Jones in his home town’s Motorpoint Arena this Saturday night.

The pair have been trading insults in the build up to this eliminator for the IBF welterweight title, with Jones threatening to de-rail Brook and the Englishman saying: 'I don’t like him and I’m going to punish him.'

Brook should win but British fans will be looking more fluency and variety in his boxing.

Brook-Jones is live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 8 pm Saturday.

Amir out to bring his belt back

Incentive: Amir Khan can reclaim his title

Amir Khan will be reunited with the WBA belt stolen from him by Lamont Peterson if he beats another American, Danny Garcia, in Las Vegas on July 14.

The WBA have promised Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer that they will reinstate Khan as their world light-welterweight champion following Peterson’s positive drugs test.

With Garcia coming into the fight at the Mandalay Bay as the defending WBC champion, Khan has the incentive of becoming a unified champion once again.

Make that undisputed if the IBF follow the WBA’s example in time.

That they should but their delay in so doing until all medical submissions have been examined suggests they will stay loyal to the Peterson camp for as long as possible.

Disgracefully so, since both Peterson’s A and B tests confirmed testosterone abuse and his team have admitted the implanting of a pellet full of drugs in his hip prior to the fight against Khan, which was also mired in refereeing and judging controversies.

Khan-Garcia will be live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 2 am Sunday July 15.

Chisora-Charles bust-up... who cares?

Dereck Chisora is reported to have been attacked by his own trainer, Don Charles, during a bust-up in training for his post-Munich-brawl fight with fellow London heavyweight David Haye at West Ham football ground on July 14.

Subsequently the incident has been variously denied, played down or dismissed as a publicity stunt.

Did it happen? Do we care?

Haye-Chisora will be live on BoxNation (Sky Ch 456 or Virgin Ch 546) on Saturday July 14

Working it out: Chisora and his trainer Don Charles were said to have clashed